First, credit where it's due: A few lonely Republican leaders are belatedly trying to clean up the party's mess of crazy, from the racially tinged character attacks on Sonia Sotomayor to the unhinged rhetoric of the Birthers to the overall vicious and fact-free spew of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. It's not working yet -- Beck's claiming Obama "has a deep-seated hatred for white people" on Tuesday might be a new low -- but at least someone's trying.

Sen. Lindsey Graham tried to kick off a new GOP flirtation with decency when he announced his vote to confirm Sotomayor last week. (Yet Graham wound up the only Republican on the Judiciary Committee to support her, with even supposed judicial moderates like Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch voting against her.) Then, after Birther madness reached a new high, a few mid-level GOP names -- Mike Huckabee, Michael Steele and even fact-averse propagandists Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly -- began distancing themselves from their party's anti-Obama fringe. Chairman Steele believes that this is an unnecessary distraction and believes that the president is a U.S. citizen," a spokeswoman for Steele told the Plum Line's Greg Sargent. Better late than never.

Still, Limbaugh and Beck continue to ratchet up their alarming and increasingly racist hatred for the president. Both of them have taken to insisting that the first president with a black father and white mother, mostly raised by his white grandparents, is a racist who hates white people. And look for this kind of crazy to escalate with the party base.

Limbaugh's been on this beat for a long time, but the complicated Gates case inspired him to a whole new level of fiction. "Here you have a black president trying to destroy a white policeman," the radio bully told his audience last Friday, the day Obama expressed regret over his quick judgment in the matter and invited Skip Gates and Officer James Crowley to the White House for a beer. On Monday he insisted, "I do believe [Obama is] an angry black guy!"

Weepy Glenn Beck has been even more hysterical, flatly declaring Obama a "racist" on Fox News and elaborating: "This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture." Watch Beck blather below; listen to his response to the ensuing criticism here.

(VIDEO AT LINK)

There's a psychological term for this kind of unhinged behavior, and it's called "projection." These two racists are projecting their own racial feelings onto Obama. Increasingly, the ranks of the racially blinkered (and I include MSNBC's Pat Buchanan here) are playing victim, insisting Obama's modest moves -- appointing a Latina justice, using the Gates case to speak out against racial profiling -- are reversing the racial order wholesale, and putting white men on the bottom of the pile.

One look at Congress, the Supreme Court, Fortune 500 CEOs -- or conversely, at prison cells across America -- tells you how delusional the Beck-Limbaugh-Buchanan view is, but that doesn't make it irrelevant. It's likely to get worse, as persistent economic hardship plus a spike in right-wing racist rhetoric increases the appeal of scapegoat strategies.

It's time for more decent Republicans to take a stand against the vicious anti-Obama racism of the party fringe and their broadcast fuhrers. On Monday Ohio Sen. George Voinovich blasted the dominance of his party's Southern fringe, and its outdated Southern Strategy with its emphasis on racial division. Like Voinovich, I think GOP racism and race-baiting will consign the party to a long time in the political minority. But it could claim a lot of other victims along the way.

If you can stand to watch more right-wing crazy, this Media Matters video sums it all up: (VIDEO AT LINK)

"One look at Congress, the Supreme Court, Fortune 500 CEOs -- or conversely, at prison cells across America -- tells you how delusional the Beck-Limbaugh-Buchanan view is, but that doesn't make it irrelevant."

Every one of those black men and women in prison is innocent, right Joan? "Political prisoners" I suppose you'd call them.

Of course o showed no racism at all in the race-baiting Gates circus.
They are only trying to hype up their own idiot constituency. We are gaining real traction and they are like trapped rats. GOOD!!!
I hope they chew their tails off.
Conversely, they are the ones also doing the physical intimidation, not us. They are the ones inciting violence and we had better be prepared for it.

You know, I'm really sure that we conservatives need the guidance and direction that the Liberals are suggesting that we employ. Since when do I (we) care what Liberals think we conservatives should be? Conversely, me giving Liberals directions on how they are to act is as effective as pi$$ing in the wind.

11
posted on 08/03/2009 1:56:25 AM PDT
by TheBlueMax
("Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty. " (Ronald Reagan))

The REAL message in a nutshell - no matter what they may do; no matter how incompetent their policies may be; however blithering, wrong-headed, and/or destructive their pronouncements; any and all criticisms of People of Color - however logical, rational, or well argued - are motivated solely and exclusively by RACISM.

Sen. Lindsey Graham tried to kick off a new GOP flirtation with decency when he announced his vote to confirm Sotomayor last week. (Yet Graham wound up the only Republican on the Judiciary Committee to support her, with even supposed judicial moderates like Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch voting against her.)

Joan Walsh and Salon's praise of Lindsey Graham tells us all we need to know about the RINO POS.

So a Caucasian socialist would not get the same opposition? A white supreme court justice with backward policies should be confirmed because he/she could be the first white person ever to serve? Give the “racist” stuff a break-its lost so much meaning that not many can recognize it even when it is on full display.

This person speaks of racism in the Republican party and I am not seeing it.

Well, if there isn't any racism then there's a whole lot of hysteria and hatred. The Kenyan, the Usurper, the Magic Negro, and so on. To hear some people, Obama is a combination of Hitler, Stalin and bin Laden, and he's out to intentionally destroy America. To me he's just a liberal politician, nothing more and nothing less. He's also our President, whether we like it or not, and he deserves the respect of the office. I believe he is also entitled to the respect due any human being. How can the Republican party provide intelligent opposition to the president's policies if they're caught up in the politics of emotion and hatred? Getting into the gutter may be satisfying. It also may be a way to obtain some short term political gain, but what is the cost to the long term health of our nation? Would you rather see the nation destroyed than see Obama continue as President? Besides that, what sort of impression do you think hate politics will have on the great mass of the public? Some may respond positively. Others may find our antics to be ridiculous. Obama can be opposed on principles, can be opposed with respect, and can be opposed constructively. There is a midterm election in fifteen months and a presidential election in three years. We don't have to resort to tactics better suited to a banana republic.

One other thing we always hear is that the Democrats did it first. "They attacked Sarah's family so why shouldn't we do the same to Obama's kids". "They were unfair to Bush so let's be unfair to Obama". Since when do two wrongs make a right? The Republican and Democratic parties are political organizations, not criminal gangs. We should all be better than that, and our nation deserves better than that.

Still, Limbaugh and Beck continue to ratchet up their alarming and increasingly racist hatred for the president.

Well, Joan, this is a devastating assertion. Please cite your sources for drawing such a conclusion. If you cannot present a compelling, or even a fanciful argument to support your "findings," then you should apologize and find another occupation, like writing for a Tabloid.

The fact is that many readers like to make up their own minds, based on a presentation of the sides of an issue. Limbaugh is great because that is what he does. Are you jealous because your cup is empty?

If you are aware of anything he has done or wants to do to date on the big issues that will NOT result in the destruction of the aspect in question I'd like to hear it. Obama HIMSELF has testified that he wants to change America from what it has always been to what he (and all other Marxists)believes it SHOULD be.

I understand your comment, but believe you miss the mark regarding the resistence to Obama. First he more than just another liberal president; he is beyond the pale, especially considering he has no huge mandate to do what he is trying to do. Second, racism cuts both ways. Observers see who and why Obama has appointed to important positions and are pushing back and rightly so. The Wright stuff, the Ayers stuff, the Gates stuff, etc. are painting a picture of Obama that he, and not anyone on the right, painted.

A related comment -- I think people are fed up with the racial crap, real or imagined, that continues to crop up, and it's time to put it behind us. Consequently, I think people are more apt to speak up today than they have in the past. That might be a good thing.

In this video Joan thinks Glenn Beck and Rush are just projecting their own racism when they criticize Obama, in particular his handling of the "Gates" Gate. Why, says Joan, black people like Obama make white people feel good. She act just like a little naive school.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaNgtfs4fzk&feature=player_embedded

This woman is the epitome of just how pathetic most have become in this country. We have lost any and all sense of who we are. The total destruction, deracination and gutting of our people is playing out before our eyes. This woman is the ultimate liberal seeking benediction and a pat on the head. These are the people that are leading us straight into the pit of hell.

0bama called himself a “progressive pragmatist.” There is another despot in history that paraded around under that misnomer. It didn't turn out well for him. You neglected to mention him.

While we still have free speech I will say it. Calling him a Usurper is not racist. His record so far shows him to be just that. The folks that call him The Kenyan are not referring to him because he is black, it is because he has refused to reveal his birth certificate, college records, and documented history.

Comparing his tactics to the other despots of Stalin, Hitler, etc. shines the similarities on the debate. It is not racist. I will not doom our nation to repeat those histories for fear of being called a racist. That is just your projection onto the discussion. Comparisons with history is not racist.

Baiting your post, dumping ideas into this particular discussion thread as racist, is a bit dishonest to those of us working to oppose this President's nation destroying policies. In case you haven't noticed he is dismantling the American system of economics, production, banking, healthcare, energy, agriculture and who knows what other faux crisis he will use to usurp our freedoms.

Opposing policies that are in opposition to our Constitution is not disrespectful to our Nation, nor is it destructive, nor is it racism.

I agree with the Beck's and Limbaugh's in regard to the Gates matter. 0bama tipped his hand into a situation which should have never even made it to the local news. In doing so he revealed himself and his own racism.

35
posted on 08/03/2009 5:01:21 AM PDT
by EBH
(it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government)

I agree wholeheartedly, except, well there’s a reason politicians and political pundits resort to this kind of negativity. It WORKS. It may be distasteful, but if two political parties are competing, and one is completely above board and spends all its money on extolling its own virtues, while the other tells you how good they are AND slags off the opposition, then the latter has a political advantage.

Liberalism whatever it once was seems to have devolved into a conspiracy cult. She names less than a thousand powerful people and from that weaves a racial conspiracy, how pathetic, self-hatred runs deep in her psyche.

39
posted on 08/03/2009 5:23:08 AM PDT
by junta
(Conservatives, the word "racism" is now ours.)

Joan Walsh is not a serious thinker and not a single person takes her very seriously. Her whole persona is one of vapid liberalism and she’s simply consumed with a sense of entitlement. She has nothing to add.

She even lumped BOR and Ann Coulter together, as if conservatives see them as birds of a feather. Such sillinessy. Ann is a straight up conservative lady who may not exactly be onboard with the birth certificate controversy but BOR is (at times) a mocker of conservatives.

45
posted on 08/03/2009 8:49:31 AM PDT
by BertWheeler
(Dance and the world dances with you...)

>>>Well, if there isn’t any racism then there’s a whole lot of hysteria and hatred.<<<

First, a definition: racism is the belief that you can determine a person’s character, personality, and political beliefs by the color of their skin or ethnicity.

I haven’t seen a racist speaking for conservatism in decades. I regularly see leftists stereotyping people according to race and ethnicity, and I have been confronted by African-Americans and Native Americans spewing the most awful racist comments - usually presented in terms of being a victim or in terms of “pride.”

Then there’s “hysteria and hatred.” By his own comments, and the comments of those who taught and raised Obama, there is a distinct desire to reshape and reform American culture into something distinctly Marxist. Those are facts, if you accept the words of those speaking them on their face. It is not “hysteria” to look at the words of Alinsky and conclude that the foundations of American culture are under attack. Those of us who appreciate liberty and individual freedom are disgusted by the ideas of the left - so what is wrong with hating oppression and forced conformity?

Hate politics? You mean the endless smears and libels about Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, George W. Bush, Sean Hannity, or any other conservative who speak up?

Some of us are well-read on the politics of the left. In fact, I was actually raised and taught by leftists. There is no desire on the leftist side to treat the opposition with respect, decency, or kindness - and you insist that we need to respond that way? Sometimes the war is forced upon us, bud, and you can’t fight against people who desire your destruction with words and respect.

Let me put this in historical context. Would your opposition to slavery consist of kind words for the slave owners and traders? Would you treat Mao with the respect due any human being? Would it be hysterical and hatred to want to destroy the machinery which killed the Jews in World War II?

What you’re lacking is a passion for liberty and freedom. You’re apparently willing to play fair no matter what the circumstances are. That’s the recipe for suicide.

All is fair in love, war, and politics. We should never relent on this president. He is scum plain and simple. This is the same person who fought hard to allow babies born alive to be throw in the waste bin out of convenience. This is the same scum that feels that once a person gets to a certain age their life becomes less worthy for medical procedures. Just take a pain pill. And this is the same scum that thinks he is better able to handle the economy than someone that has an actual functioning brain.

This guy is the epitome of the scum bag Democrat party, The destruction of his presidency and his reputation is imperative. We must show liberalism to be the morally and intellectual bankrupt philosophy that it is.

48
posted on 08/03/2009 10:09:43 AM PDT
by Jim from C-Town
(The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)

There should be an equivalent of Godwin’s Law that states sooner or later in any conversation concerning issues, Hitler or Nazism will be brought up. In any discussion where libs are allowed, racism will be brought up. It is their first and last resource.

49
posted on 08/03/2009 11:24:16 AM PDT
by driftless2
(for long term happiness, learn how to play the accordion)

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